Contrary to what he had pledged in recent weeks and months, former Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando on Saturday opted to vote, rather than abstain.

Dr Pullicino Orlando had originally pronounced himself last July, saying that he no longer felt comfortable in the PN expressing his disagreement with the direction it took under the leadership of Lawrence Gonzi. At the same time the former backbencher had resigned from the party and became an independent MP.

In the run-up to this election, on 21 February, Dr Pullicino Orlando told The Malta Independent that he was still of the same opinion and had no intention to vote. Though declaring himself as Nationalist at heart, he remarked that the party needs a change, whilst not ruling out the possibility that he might militate again in the party in future.

However on his Facebook account, Dr Pullicino Orlando on Saturday morning announced that Daphne Caruana Galizia’s “theatrics as well as Lou Bondi made him change his mind”, and thus decided to vote.

The former PN MP was referring to the incident posted on YouTube some hours before in which Lou Bondi turned up at Caruana Galizia’s home after she was presented with an arrest warrant at 9.30pm on Friday. In this footage Mr Bondi repeatedly asked the police present at her house about the nature of this arrest warrant which was issued after a complaint on a particular post on her blog some two and a half hours before.

In his Facebook post, Dr Pullicino Orlando did not divulge any details about his voting intentions. However he was highly critical on Mr Bondi for ‘not sticking out his head’ to defend Labour candidates, who were also questioned by the police for allegedly breaching political silence on Friday.